My Wicked Heart (Wicked Poison 2)

“I wouldn’t object.” My phone starts ringing, and Rhianna reaches for it and answers for me. I look down at the baby, not even paying attention to what she’s saying when she hands me the phone back with no one on the line. “Who was that?”

“August.”

“Umm, okay. Why was August calling?”

“Winter said she put her binky in your purse.” Rhianna grabs my purse, opens it, and finds Winter’s little pink stuffed mouse toy. She sleeps with it, loves it, and has trouble staying asleep without it. “He’s coming to get it.” Rhianna rubs her hands together. “This is going to be so good.”

“Rhianna.”

She turns to me innocently. “What?” She smiles. “Mom can’t say no to Winter, so it will be interesting how she does when she’s with August.”

“My daughter shouldn’t be involved in any of this.” I stand, lifting the baby with me. As I turn, I see the door open and my mother standing there with a sour expression on her face before she turns and looks my way.

“He was in the driveway, by the way,” she informs me. “I can’t work out if you are the bad sister or the good one.”

“The bad one. Oh boy, am I the bad one.”

Noah walks up then and slides his hand around Rhianna’s waist and leans down and kisses her cheek.

“What’s going on?”

“August is here.” He stops kissing her then swivels his head around until his eyes land on me. But we can only see my mother, as the wall blocks our view of the door.

“I should go over there,” I say more to myself than anyone else.

“Yeah, you should save him before she chops his head off and feeds it to Anderson’s parents,” Rhianna says.

I turn to hand her the baby, but she has a drink in her hand, and the other is glued to Noah. I raise my brow at her, and she shrugs. “Aunty duties. You took him, so I’m having a twenty-minute break. Plus, the baby will help everything go smoothly,” she adds.

“You really are evil. This is why Beckham is my favorite.” I poke my tongue out at her.

“Please. He may be your favorite, but it’s me who knows your soul.”

Just as I turn to walk over with the baby, I see Winter run in and go straight for my father. He lifts and spins her around. Walking over to my mother, I hear the last bit of what she says to August. “You can go now.”

Giving August a quick perusal, his jeans don’t meet the dress code for tonight. Everyone is dressed in suits and dresses, but I don’t care.

“Come in. She’s most likely just saying hi.” I hand him her pink ballerina mouse, and he nods and takes one step closer to me. His eyes fall to the baby, and I offer him to August.

“Winter was the same size, but her length was a bit shorter.”

“She was a small bundle of joy,” my mother says, turning to see where Winter went.

I feel his eyes on me. “I should get going. We just needed to get the mouse, and, well…”

“It’s no problem.”

Anderson’s mother walks over. Her eyes land on August, then swing to me. “What is he doing here?” she snaps.

Her husband, who is usually incredibly quiet, reaches for August and grabs him by the shirt, and starts pushing him out the back.

“What the hell?” Noah and Rhianna come straight up behind me, and I hand the baby to Rhianna and make my way to where Noah is pulling Anderson’s father from August.

“You have some cheek showing your face here.” My mother steps out of the doorway and shuts it behind her. Anderson’s mother is standing on the doorstep with a sour expression written all over her face.

“What on earth are you doing? How dare you touch him?” I say, rushing over while holding my dress up so it doesn’t drag along the ground.

Anderson’s father looks to me and shakes his head. “You clearly need to keep better company. Was he fucking you the same time he was fucking my wife?” he practically screams in my face.

Confused, my eyes move from him to August. “What’s he talking about?”

“I told you I did things to pay for food,” he says, his hand kneading the back of his neck as he looks around. His eyes come back to me—regret and shame evident in their depths. “Things I’m not proud of,” he says quietly.

“Mommy.” We both turn to see Winter running in our direction. She goes to August and he picks her up. “We’re going to play in the park, you should come.” Her little voice is so innocent.

Green eyes lock on to mine. “Come over later. We can talk when she’s asleep.” August turns with her and heads to his car.

“That’s probably not a good idea. Bring her back first thing in the morning,” I tell him.